Pavlov: Dogs and Bells.

Pavlov: Dogs and Bells

Ivan Pavlov was born 1984 in a small village in the central of Russia and died in 1936. He studied chemistry and physiology at the university of St Petersburg, and he received his doctorate in 1979. The work that made Pavlov a household name in psychology actually began as a study into the salvation response in dogs.

Pavlov found out that the dogs he was using in his experiment were learning by association and that they would sometimes start salivating before the food had reached their mouths, often at the sound of a bell. Clearly the dogs had learnt to associate new external stimuli such as the bell, with the original stimuli the food. This is called classical conditioning and Pavlov outlined these principles.

Pavlov found many new stimuli could be associated with reflexes and went on to introduce special terms for the conditioning process.

1 Unconditional Unconditional

Stimulus Response

(U.C.S) (U.C.R)

Food Salivation

2 Conditional Unconditional Unconditional

Stimulus stimulus Response

(C.S) (U.C.S) (U.C.S)

Bell Food Salivation

3 Conditional Conditional

Stimulus Response

(C.S) (C.R)

Bell Salivation

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3 Conditional Conditional

Stimulus Response

(C.S) (C.R)

Bell Salivation

Pavlov found that for learning to be made, the two stimuli had to be presented close together in time. If the time between the presentation of the bell and the presentation of the food is too great, then the learning will not occur. Pavlov tried many variations to present the bell and the food together to produce the best learning these were simultaneous conditioning which involved the C.S (bell) and the U.C.S (food) being presented at the same time. Trace conditioning was another method involving presenting and removing the C.S (bell) a long time before the U.C.S (food). The dog did not make the connection with a long time gap. Another method was backward conditioning, which was where the C.S (bell) is presented after the U.C.S (food). This method produces very little learning. Forward conditioning produced the strongest learning it involves presenting the C.S (bell) just before and during the presentation of the of the U.C.S (food).

If you put something that gets a specific response consistently with something that does not, eventually both will cause the response. Pavlov found this with the dogs he used applying the forward conditioning method. He also found that the conditioned reflex would be repressed if the stimulus proves "wrong" too often. If the bell sounds repeatedly and no food appears, eventually the dog stops salivating at the sound.

Children and Metal Bars:

(Classic conditioning and phobias)

Behaviourists learning theories suggested that phobias were conditioned emotional responses. Certain stimuli such as sudden loud noises can cause fear, and stimuli that become associated with them will acquire the same emotional response.

This was tested on a young child named Albert, to see whether skinners theory works on humans as well as dogs. Giving Albert a rat to play with at nine months old did not produce fear. But when a bar was struck behind Albert’s head he began to cry. So then every time he was given the rat to play with the bar was struck behind his head making him cry and produce fear. So after this happening for many months every time the rat was given to him he would automatically cry even if the bar had not been struck.

First- test emotional RAT NO EMOTIONAL

response to rat. (Neutral stimulus) RESPONCE

Second- test natural fear SUDDEN LOULD NOISE FEAR

reaction to loud noise (unconditional stimulus) (unconditional response)

Third-associate rat RAT + SUDDEN LOUD NIOSE FEAR

and loud noise.

Forth- test emotional RAT FEAR

response to rat (conditional stimulus) (conditional response)

without loud noise.

In classical conditioning terms, if a rat does not originally produce fear, it can be made to do so by being associated with a loud noise. Shown in table above.

So a young baby was able to learn to associate the rat with the bar and had a phobia conditioned with an emotional response. The study had big ethical problems such as the fact that Albert had such a traumatic experiences, and at one-year-old Albert would cry on contact with the coat, rabbit and dog but not the rat. When he saw the rat he would just cover his eyes with both hands.

Skinner: Rats and Levers

B.F. Skinner is a behavioural psychologist who became famous for his work with rats using his "Skinner Box". He was born in 1904 and died in 1990 and is from America. He took the extreme liberty of transferring his experience and theories of rats directly to human beings. He believed that all behaviour is shaped by consequences. In a traditional behavioural approach, Skinner followed in the footsteps of .

Operant conditioning involves learning through the consequences of behaviour responses. This situation resembles most closely the classic experiments from Skinner, where he trained rats to press a lever in order to obtain a food reward. In such experiments, the subject is able to generate certain motor-output; the response was running around, cleaning, resting, and pressing the lever. Skinner chooses a suited output (e.g. pressing the lever) to pair it with an unconditioned stimulus (e.g. a food reward). After a training period, the rat would show the conditioned response ( e.g. touching the lever) even in absence of the food.

The Skinner Box

There were three different responses to pressing the lever they are:

1) Rats had to press a leaver to receive a food pellet, which would increase the likelihood of the lever pressing response reoccurring.

2) If the rats were to press the lever they would receive a punishment, which could be an electric shock, which would result in the lever-pressing going down.

3) The floor of the box would be electrified and if the rat were to press the lever it would stop the electric floor for twenty seconds. This is called negative reinforcement

which would remove all unpleasant behaviour, so the rat would end up pressing the lever more.

Skinner believed that: If behaviour A always leads to behaviour B

If we like behaviour B then we do behaviour A more

If we dislike behaviour B then we do A less

This is for the same as the rats they were only pressing the lever because of consequences and what would happen to them.

This also works for children as well because if A always leads to B and B is something nice the child would do A to get the reward. The child would also be punished for bad behaviour, so if A leads to B and B is something nasty then the child will stop doing A. Skinner was able to realise that animals and humans both do this.

By rein forcing responses that increasingly resemble desired end behaviour in a step-by-step manner, very complex behaviour can be built up from simple units. The first responses are reinforced until perfected and then reinforcement is withheld until the behaviour is refined to the next desired behaviour.

Behaviourism

Behaviourism only focuses on a person’s behaviour, and the reasons they behave the way they do. Behaviourists believe that learning is the main force that controls human development. People are understood as being immensely adaptable they will adapt to the environment and life experiences that they encounter. The Russian physiologists, Ivan Pavlov and American psychologist Burrhus F. Skinner all worked to develop theories of learning. These theorists believed that the environment controlled behaviour. The way people develop skills and abilities was entirely due to the learning experience which the encountered.

Behaviourist’s study people’s behaviour and actions but can’t study the mind because it is so complex, nor can they understand our subconscious thoughts or feelings. The problem that behaviourists have is recognising that the human mind is very complex and assumptions cannot be made about human behaviour compared with studies that have been done with animals.